Improvement in electrical gas-lighting apparatus



W. H. H. WHITING. Electrical Gas-Lighting Apparatus. No. 222,555. Patented Dec. 9,1879.

UNITED" STATES PATENT @FFIG lM-P ROVEMENT IN ELECTRICAL GAS-LIGHTING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,5 55,

dated December 9, 187 application filed September 15, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, M. HJH. \YHITING, of Chelsea, county of MiddleseX, State otM-assachusctts, have invented an Improvement in Gas-LightinApparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to lighting gas by electricit-y,'and is embodied in a portable'galvanic battery, which may be readily carried by the operator from burner to burner, thus doing away with the expensive apparatus and wires which are necessary in the usual systems for electric gas-lightin g, depending upon batteries for the electric current, and avoiding the trouble and expense which is caused by such apparatus getting out of repair, and by the breaking of the wires. In this class of gaslighting apparatus, as now common, each burner has to be of peculiar construction, which adds greatly to its cost, and the wires connecting it with the battery are apt to be broken, and, as is sometimes the case, by carelessness in the use of the lighting means, the two poles are left in contact, thereby consuming the power of the battery during such contact when other burners cannot be lighted.

My invention is herein shown as practically embodied in the combination with a gas-lighting apparatus, substantially such as described in my former Letters Patent of the United States, No. 209,594, dated November 5, 1879, to which reference may be had, of a galvanic battery and coil for producing a spark, the said battery and coil being arranged in a box adapted to be readily carried about the room by the person who is to light the gas.

A handlighter such as described in my previous patent will be electrically connected with the battery and connected coil by insulated wires of suitable length to allow the lighter to be placed over the gas-jet, and the operator, having suspended the batterybox on his shoulder and taken the lighter in his hand, will go along from burner to burner, turning on the gas with one hand and operating the lighter with the other.

This invention affords a very cheap means of electric lighting, possessing all the advantages of safety and convenience, and it can be employed with any burner which may be in use in the room to be lighted.

In the present form of apparatus but one lighter is required, and a comparatively weak battery is snfticient to generate the necessary sparks, as the wire connections are very short. It is obvious that the handle of the lighter may be elongated or suitably attached to a pole to enable the gas to be easilylightedata Figure l is a perspective view, showing the portable batterybox and connected lighter in operative position; Fig. 2, a front view of the battery-box broken away to show the inclosed battery and coil; Fig. 3, a top view thereof with the cover removed; and Fig. 4, details, showing the hood-shaped vibrating electrode.

The li hter a, which may, and preferably will, be substantially as in my previous patent, already referred to, except as to particulars hereinafter specified, has its electrodes connected with the wires 1), which may be of the flexible insulated kind used for telephoneconnections and similar purposes, said wires passing through the side of the battery-box e 7 therein.

The battery-box 0, provided with a strap, (7, to enableit to be suspended from the shoulder of the operator, shown as divided into suitable compartments to contain the galvanic battery of of any desired form (here shown as a two-celled Leclanche) and the coil 9.

The zinc pole of c is connected with the carbon pole off by the wire 2, and the carbon of c is connected by wire 3 and metallic connections 4: with the plate 5 and the binding-screw 6, which receives one of the wires 1) of the lighter to, the other of which is connected with the binding-screw 7, plate 8, wire 9, with one end of the coil g, the other .end of which is connected by wire 9, plate 10, and wire 11, with the zinc pole of cup f.

The chamber for the coil formed by the partition 71 is provided with the cover 1'. The coil g, provided with a soft-iron core, is of the kind commonly used to produce small sparks sufficient for lighting gas.

fixture out ot'reach of the hand ot'the operator. is.

c, and being connected with the binding-screws I have discovered, in the use of my gaslighter described in the patent hereinbefore referred to, that at times, with abattery-eurrent of but slight power, it fails to light the gas as it issues from the burner in a fine vertical stream, it being difficult to place the contactpoints of the electrodes exactly in said stream. To obviate this difficulty I provide a hood or deflector in connection with the vibrating elec trode, which, placed above the orifice from which the gas flows, checks the gas, retaining a body thereof under the hood-like deflector, which is sure to receive the sparks. This defiector is herein shown as a metallic plate, 1, with a downwardly'turned edge or flange, m, which in vibrating contacts with the brushlikc electrode, forming sparks which reach the body of the gas gathered under the plate between the flanges.

I claim 1. The combination, with the gas-lighter a,

having a handle and fixed and vibrating electrodes, of the battery-box 0, adapted to be readily carried bythe operator, and containing the galvanic battery and coil, and electrical connections between said battery and gaslighter, substantially as described.

2. In an electric gas-lighting apparatus consisting of a handle and fixed and vibrating electrodes, and connected wires to place them in electric circuit, the combination, with the electrodes, of a hood or deflector to retain a body of gas to receive the sparks, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. H. WHITING.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, N. E. WHITNEY. 

